


eventually the birds must land

by likewinning



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comment Fic, Community: comment_fic, M/M, lost days!Jason and post-AOU Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 16:57:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2277534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likewinning/pseuds/likewinning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment-fic prompt Jason/Bucky, <a href="http://heckyeahbatfam.tumblr.com/post/81823523487/imagine-a-world-with-jason-bucky-friendship">this</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	eventually the birds must land

It's possible Bucky made a bad call ever giving Jason a way to contact him. But Jason's smart as hell; he would've figured it out anyway.

But the 4AM phonecalls aren't exactly his idea of a beautiful friendship.

"What?" he asks, because they're not the kind of people who say _hello_.

"Your dance card's not full, is it?" Jason asks.

"You know, those places didn't really stay open this late. And it was usually the girls who had the dance cards."

"So maybe I'm calling you a girl," Jason says. "I mean, I could almost get your hair into a braid –"

"What do you want, Jay?" Bucky asks, and Jason gets to the point. "There's a drug bust about to go down on Halsey, but these cops are gonna need our kind of back-up. Meet me in ten minutes."

Bucky gets there in five. Since they're early, and Jason brings out the vigilante in him, they take down the bad guys themselves, leaving them zip-tied and a little bruised for the cops. It's not exactly Steve-approved, but at least no one's dead. There's always that risk.

*

Bucky comes back to their booth with another round of shots and a weird sort of grin. Jason takes the shot and downs it in one. "That girl at the bar thinks I'm your brother," Bucky tells him as he slides back into the booth, and Jason laughs.

"It's the hair," Jason says. "If I ever let it grow out to its real color, she'd be in for a shock."

"What's your –" Bucky starts to ask, but then Jason reaches for _his_ shot, and Bucky angles it away from him.

"Are you even old enough to be here?" Bucky asks. It's an old joke, but it always gets a rise out of Jason.

"Shouldn't you be home in bed, grandpa?" Jason shoots back, and then, "Hey, wanna make out and disturb the hell outta that girl? I mean, if we're supposed to be brothers and all."

"You're terrible," Bucky says. It's not _no_ , Jason notices.

*

He's stalling here, and Jason knows it. He was supposed to be back in Gotham weeks ago. He's going to kill the Joker; he's going to show everyone how things _should_ be done in that fucked-up town – but the day he's all set to go, Bucky calls him up and asks, "What do you know about HYDRA?"

Like Talia's quizzing him, Jason rattles off facts and figures, then adds, "And they made you that nifty arm, right?"

The line goes quiet, then dead. Jason waits, and sure enough, within minutes Bucky is climbing through his window. Jason's told him more than once he'd do great in Gotham with this kind of aversion to doors.

"They hurt Steve," Bucky says, instead of _hi, sorry for breaking in_ or whatever.

He looks around Jason's apartment. The place is more armory than home, a bed and some books and enough weapons to cut at least a few heads off. Bucky's only been here once or twice, and as far as Jason remembers they didn't exactly bother to use the bed.

"Is he –" Jason asks. He knows the thing with Rogers and Bucky is kind of a mess, the way everything is kind of a mess.

"He will be," Bucky says, but he sounds less sure than Jason's ever seen him. He looks less cold-blooded killer with the kind of war stories that could make you shiver, more helpless kid with a sick heart.

"But in the meantime –" Jason says, and Bucky nods. "Grab your stuff," Bucky says. "We're taking them out."

So Jason puts aside his own revenge mission for someone else's. For a friend's. And when the smoke clears, when they're tired and bloody but fucking _victorious_ , he finds that it was worth it.

But he doesn't ask Bucky to return the favor. He knows that he would, that if Jason told him he had clown problems in Gotham he'd be there – but for all that the Winter Soldier is deadly and swift, his friend is a good man. That's the last thing Gotham needs right now.

"Don't be a stranger," Bucky tells him before he goes. They're out on the balcony, sharing a cigarette and the end of a bottle of whiskey. Somewhere, Steve Rogers is okay again, which makes Jason feel a little better about the world. Gotham might have too many good men, but New York needs that one.

"And don't get hit with any passing crowbars, right?" Jason asks.

"Jesus," Bucky says. He shakes his head at Jason, takes a drink, then adds, "And maybe avoid getting blown up, too."

"Please," Jason says. "Like _you_ can talk."

Bucky smirks at him. It's _that_ kind of smirk that can make Jason get to his knees in about five seconds. He's going to miss that when he's off killing drug lords and fixing Gotham and shit. "I know I'm your hero and all," Bucky says, "But metal arms aren't as cool as they look."

_Yeah, they are_ , Jason thinks, because he's been hit with that once or twice when they've sparred, and it's impressive as _fuck_ , but what he says is, "We'll see how cool you are when I shove you off this balcony."

He doesn't, though. He lets Bucky press him up against the rails and kiss him fierce, all teeth and tongue, whiskey and smoke, and he tries not to think too much about the parts of it, buried beneath the sharp edges, that say _be careful_ and maybe even _I'll miss you_.

"You sure you're gonna go with that helmet?" Bucky asks him, and Jason knows he means _you sure you wanna do this at all?_ but he brushes him off. "I'm not taking fashion advice from the guy who wore a gas mask as his disguise."


End file.
